Hayden Maines: Emergency Ops!

Illustrium Creations—aceartinc.

A fun and tightly scripted comedy, back with a fresh coat of paint and the explicit focus on our singular actor Hayden Maines in marketing. Playing every member of a RMs emergency operations team, Hayden rapid fire changes out coloured safety vests and accents, arguing, cajoling and insulting other versions of himself to ironic effect, as he pokes fun at how similar each character looks and how the accents rapidly devolve into the absurd to maintain distinctness.

The office comedy is fun and Hayden has a lot of confidence in handling this concept, responding to set malfunctions with a smooth reset and improvised joke. Ultimately after having watched this in the past and despite the explicit focus on the aspect of every character being played by Hayden I still don’t see what it necessarily adds to the experience outside of, I suppose, admiring the skill and dexterity required to pull it off. But at the end of the day the jokes are funny, the script is snappy, and it is definitely an experience watching Hayden pull it off despite it all .

Josh Fidelak

Paper Fathers: Shadows and the Songs We Leave Behind

Tilted Hilton Productions—The Gargoyle Theatre

This lovely show deserves to be seen! Heartrending yet hopeful – and never approaching maudlin. It’s a personal story that could have ended in tragedy seamlessly blended with an historic one that does. It’s hard to believe this is Tim Hogue’s Fringe debut as a writer and solo artist because it’s so skillfully staged. And it’s so beautifully written there were collective audience gasps in response to his evocative words.

Audra Lesosky

Black Butterfly

Blackwestward Productions—John Hirsch Mainstage

The gorgeous costumes create the setting for the wonderful, sultry opening dance that ensues. The upbeat, fun and toe-tapping music preludes the readiness to launch into party time mode, in this case, the Festival of Lights.

After the Festival, the plot develops quite slowly; however and even though you know what’s going to happen, it takes a while to get there. They want to draw a Romeo and Juliet type of tragedy out of the plot, but I really couldn’t engage with it. After I saw Letters yesterday, I left the theatre feeling like someone punched me on the sternum. I don’t get that here, and I think a big part of it is, I’m still in “party mode.” The colours, the dance, and the music all put me into a “let’s have fun spirit,” and when the tragedy comes, I’m just not ready for it.

If you want a tragedy, you need to set a tragic ambiance (think of how you feel at the closing aria of Madama Butterfly). Even at the end of this play, I felt like dancing with friends outside on a hot night, by an open fire, drinking sauvignon blanc.

Ray Yuen

Human$

jurasco—Son of Warehouse

A passionate and deeply felt attempt at trying to tie together human history, our current state, and how to go from there to a better, more equitable and balanced tomorrow.

The structure of the show could definitely do with more texture, with the story moving steadily from a narration of human evolution and development into personal life stories into the political message the storyteller Wayne James was building up towards. Thankfully there was a spirited rendition of Willie Dunn’s protest song The Ballad of Crowfoot between the historical narrative and his personal one, but outside of that there were not a lot of flourishes to latch onto.

At the end of the day, I have to appreciate an earned Michael Parenti quotation, and I definitely can’t say that it’s an ill timed show, despite probably deserving of more polish.

Josh Fidelak

A Magician with Jordan Rooks

Rooks Entertainment Productions—Son of Warehouse

Las Vegas based touring magician Jordan Rooks brings a different kind of magic show to the Winnipeg Fringe. He tells his life story and folds in tricks to add to the story. He begins with how he got into magic, while showing a few of his first illusions, illusions that got him noticed by David Copperfield while just 13 years old. His story continues with his journey through magic and carries on to his relationship between himself and his father, and the influence of his mother.

Overall, a great blend of some great magic and a very interesting story in this self stated “behind the scenes look at what makes an artist”.

Murray Hunter

Four Hearts

The Improv Company—Théâtre Cercle Molière

Before this long form improvised play begins, the players gossip with the crowd to collect annoying relationship quirks that become secret character traits on which the show is built. It’s a clever setup, and there’s particular fun in watching a scene unfold when you know something about a character that the other performers don’t.

The players build tension and comedy with confidence, making smart use of entrances and exits to give different sets of characters a chance to have more private conversations to inform the action. As the secrets gradually surface, the improvised story feels surprisingly cohesive.

No two performances will be the same, thanks to the revolving cast and audience suggestions, but the quality of the performers I saw suggests that they will be able to capably build upon whatever the audience throws at them for every showing.

Ashley Frantik

Solovela, An Improvised Solo Telenovela

Diane Jorge—Planetarium Auditorium

Esta tarde, el programa se titula “¡Tiburones del amor!”. La señora Jorge empieza a buscar a alguien que le sirva de inspiración para una telenovela… y ahí continúa la diversión.

Today’s show is called “Sharks of Love!” Diane Jorge begins by searching for a “volunteer” whose life will be used as the inspiration for the development of a telenovela—and fun ensues!

Fear not! Those who have phobias of appearing before audiences, Jorge clearly lets people off who have no desire to be centres of attention. And if you’re a ham like me wearing fluorescent yellow Versace sunglasses with a matching fluorescent yellow shirt, you attract a lot of attention, but I don’t get picked either. She ends up with a couple who were a tad shy but were great sports.

With a light probe of their lives, she weaves a solovela (solo-telenovela) with a ludicrous plotline and hilarious, satirical characters. As with any soap opera, it ends on a cliffhanger, keeping you wondering what happens next.

Ray Yuen

The Shelter

Dark Horse Theatre—School of Contemporary Dancers

Everyone has a story, as The Shelter takes pains to reiterate. Sometimes those stories are a bit two dimensional and idealistic, but even so, the message of empathy towards the unhoused and the direct financial support the company is helping provide by putting on this production helps make up for that.

The primary focus is the conversation between Joyce, lost downtown after a horrible first and last day at a new job, and Paul, a self described student of human nature residing in the bus shelter Joyce is waiting in. Around them are a cast of characters with not a lot of screen time or defining characteristic outside of “asshole”, “addict” or “grump”, but they don’t steal too much of the focus away from that core duo. While Paul himself might be a bit too squeaky clean and pure hearted despite his rough appearance and conditions, his performance definitely makes the show.

If the idea of seeing a show also representing an automatic donation to Main Street Project sounds appealing, this is definitely a great one to check out

Josh Fidelak

Black Fish

Sima Sheibani—Théâtre Cercle Molière

This surrealist epic features a modern day Scheherazade, spinning tales to survive what should be a routine customs and immigration entry screening. From there familiar stories of migrant struggles melt into deeper, secret realities hidden beneath the surface.

Sober and uncomfortable advice from those who have immigrated before bleed into traditional trials and ancient wisdom, including quotations from Persian texts that lend a spiritual quality to the piece. Just when the narrative seems to settle, the play delivers a zinger of a structural turn that re-contextualizes everything that came before.

In a festival that skews heavily comedic, Black Fish is a refreshing departure and easily one of the Fringe’s standout dramatic offerings.

Ashley Frantik